Luther hill



L. HILL.

MAGHINE FOR CUTTING SOLES 0F BOOTS 0R SHOES.

No. 11,147. Patented June 20, 1854.

Ey E11 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LUTHER HILL, OF STONEHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO LUTHER HILL AND LORENZO STRATTON.

MACHINE FOR CUTTING OUT BOOT-SOLES.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 11,147, dated June 20, 1854.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, LUTHER HILL, of Stoneham, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement for Cutting or Stamping Out Soles of Boots or Shoes; and I do hereby declare that the same is fully described and represented in the following specification and accompanying drawings, letters, figures, and references thereof.

Of the said drawings Figure 1, represents a side elevation of my improved machine for cutting soles. Fig. 2, is a vertical, central and longitudinal section of the same. Fig. 3, is a vertical and transverse section of it taken through the follower to be hereinafter described.

In the said drawings, A, represents the table or frame of the machine, such frame or table being made to sustain the base plate, B, which has an arm, 0, extended above it in the form as seen in the drawings. This arm supports the fulcrum, D, of a lever, E, to whose shorter arm the vertical rod, F, of the follower or platen, G, is jointed or connected by one or more links, a, a. The lever is moved by a treadle, H, a counter movement being effected by means of a spring, I, the whole being arranged and applied as seen in the drawings.

K, denotes the bed knife of the machine, which is a curved knife formed with its upper edge corresponding with the contour of the edge or periphery of the sole to be cut by the machine, a top view of such bed knife being represented in Fig. 4. This bed knife is carried around in and fastened to'a slide plate, L, which is suitably supported in rabbets, Z), Z), formed in the bed plate, and has the bed knife so applied to it, or formed with an opening or passage as seen at f, that the soles after being cut out may be forced down through said passage by those subsequently formed by the machine.

Instead of making the lower part of the platen or follower-as a plane surface in the ordinary way I provide it with what I term a sole bender or former, M, which may be firmly fastened to the follower, or be made to form part of the same, or it may be so applied to it by means of a tongue and groove or other suitable mode of connection as to enable it to be removed when necessary and to have another of a different size put in its place, such different size corresponding with the size of the cutter that may be employed. The sole bender or former is made to project in relief with a form necessary to bend the sole or piece of leather into the shape it is to have when fixed on a boot or shoe; and this it does when the follower is forced down upon the leather so as to compress such leather between it and the cutting knife. In order that this former may be more correctly understood, I have exhibited a sole in top View and in transverse and longitudinal section in Figs. 5, 6, and 7, where it will be seen that the leather is bent so as to cause its edges to stand perpendicularly to the plane of the outer edge of the upper surface of the concave side of the sole. My improved machine produces a sole with its edges formed in this manner, and such cannot be produced when the sole is stamped out or cut out while the leather remains unbent or in a perfectly flat state, for when such leather is subsequently bent in the usual way its edges are obliged to be pared or trimmed down in order to make the edge or periphery of the sole stand at the required angle with the plane of the edge of the upper concave surface of the sole as described. My improvement in cutting the edge of the sole while the leather is bent into shape completes the sole and saves a great amount of paring of it, which would otherwise be necessary.

I do not claim the invention of a bed knife nor the combination of a press platen, or follower therewith; nor the making the follower with its under surface a plane surface for the purpose of stamping out soles from leather, but

lVhat I do claim is The improvement of combining wit-h the underside of the follower and with the cutter as described a sole bender or former, (M,) or projection in relief of the form necessary 'to bend the sole into the shape it is to have when fixed on a boot or shoe, the said sole former by bending the leather, causing its edges to stand perpendicularly to the plane of the outer edge of the upper surface of the concave side of the sole as specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereto set my signature this eleventh day of March A. D.

LUTHER HILL. lVit-nesses R. H. EDDY, F. P. HALE, Jr. 

